Jesus

[_Tarski]

Was Jesus as laissez faire capitalist or rugged individualist trying to build a fortune? Did he ever rant about the importance of possessions or property. Did he rank people by their "cultural state" (as does droopy) saying to help only to those poor whom you deem worthy or pleasing to your sensibilities? (i.e. was he a bigot?). Did he ever rant about the government giving too much to the needy or rant about welfare?
Did Jesus really care about the poor, the sinners, the least among us or did he suggest to help them only occasionally and only as some sort of weird acetic discipline (as suggest again by Droopy) ultimately for one's own spiritual climbing after all (gotta get them celestial rewards now)?


I'm not so sure that all you Jesus people are paying attention.

Mark 10:21
21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

Acts 4:32-35
32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.
..
34 There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales
35 and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.


Perhaps Jesus only wanted to spread the wealth among those who had joined his little cult.

Personally, I'm not going to be guided by some pure ideology to answer questions of taxes or welfare (be it Jesus or Edmund Burke or Ayn Rand). For me it is the middle way and it is always a matter of trying to achieve the best outcome for me and my fellow citizens rather than slavishly adhering to some monolithic political ideology or some popular abstract economic theory.
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[_Calculus Crusader]

Professor,

Jesus Christ was not an advocate of laissez-faire capitalism but neither was he an advocate of big government entitlement programs. :)

The kind of socialism Jesus Christ advocated was Christian charity and volunteerism.

Also,

Perhaps Jesus only wanted to spread the wealth among those who had joined his little cult.

I'd choose Jesus' "little cult" over Dawkins' personality cult any day. (by the way, you are smarter than that ****head. Why isn't he a part of your foundation for "science and reason?")

[_Some Schmo]

I'd choose Jesus' "little cult" over Dawkins' personality cult any day.

LOL

It almost sounds like you're actually proud of that, despite the fact that you don't seem to have a clue what Christianity is supposed to be about. I suppose that tells us all we really need to know about you.

So, you'd rather be a socialist than an atheist. Good for you. I'd rather be a realist, and I'm glad we're different. Most Christians I've encountered don't do Jesus' little cult much justice. It a good thing he's just fictional; otherwise, he'd be quite embarrassed.

[_asbestosman]

Jesus certainly emphasized the importance of generosity and helping the poor. However, he never said the government should be involved into forcing everyone to help the poor at gunpoint. Jesus was also no capitalist--He repeatedly warned of the dangers of focusing on obtaining wealth.

As for what's best for my fellow beings, I suppose that's for all of us to decide. My middle of the road likely difers from that of others. I think many of us have similar goals in mind, but have different standards of what conditions we find acceptable. I for one am fine with others being many times more wealthy than I am.

[_Ray A]

The thing I find weird about Jesus is this:

For 2,000 years everyone has been asking, "who was Jesus?".

And 2,000 years later, there's still no answer.

Might it be time to move on to another question?

[_Calculus Crusader]

I'd choose Jesus' "little cult" over Dawkins' personality cult any day.

LOL

It almost sounds like you're actually proud of that, despite the fact that you don't seem to have a clue what Christianity is supposed to be about. I suppose that tells us all we really need to know about you.

So, you'd rather be a socialist than an atheist. Good for you. I'd rather be a realist, and I'm glad we're different. Most Christians I've encountered don't do Jesus' little cult much justice. It a good thing he's just fictional; otherwise, he'd be quite embarrassed.

Don't pretend like you know what you are talking about.

[_EAllusion]

The closest thing to a political system that represents New Testament writings is a form of communitarianism that wouldn't succeed beyond a fairly limited scope, and not without severe cuts in quality of life if there are no better systems to leech off of.

[_Some Schmo]

Don't pretend like you know what you are talking about.

This coming from the person who does little else.

[_Calculus Crusader]

The closest thing to a political system that represents New Testament writings is a form of communitarianism that wouldn't succeed beyond a fairly limited scope, and not without severe cuts in quality of life if there are no better systems to leech off of.

You are in error:

Matthew 22:21

21...Then [Jesus] said to them, ‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’

John 18:36

36Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”

[_Gazelam]

The thing I find weird about Jesus is this:

For 2,000 years everyone has been asking, "who was Jesus?".

And 2,000 years later, there's still no answer.

D&C 93

1 Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am;
2 And that I am the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world;
3 And that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, and the Father and I are one—
4 The Father because he gave me of his fulness, and the Son because I was in the world and made flesh my tabernacle, and dwelt among the sons of men.
5 I was in the world and received of my Father, and the works of him were plainly manifest.
6 And John saw and bore record of the fulness of my glory, and the fulness of John’s record is hereafter to be revealed.